One of the most visited sections of my parish’s web site, www.StCharlesChurch.org, is the DIY house blessing. Even if you don’t have a priest on hand, you can self-bless your own place following these guidelines from the US Bishops. I posted the instructions and prayers it in 2002 and four years later it consistently shows up in the top 5 of our most visited pages.

To make the blessing resonate with our young, urban community, I included references to ‘roommates’ and ‘friends’ in the original description. Turns out I missed a category. A terrific article in Sunday’s Washington Post about blessing dorm rooms at Catholic University prompted me to amend the description today to include ‘dorm rooms.’

As Fr. Donald Planty used to say when performing such a prayer, “Let’s bless the hell out of this house.”